Poniard

The poniard is one of the seventeen sword types available to players in the game. It is produced at iron mongers. On subscription oceans, the poniard may only be used by subscribers.

The poniard has a reputation as a mid-range sword in one-on-one PVP fights. The poniard can be extremely effective against inexperienced swordfighters or even good swordfighters who are not used to fighting against poniards. The fact that columns three and four of the drop pattern are monochrome (without horizontal strikes) is a serious weakness; expert swordfighters tend to do quite well when fighting against the poniard.

An opponent can exploit this vulnerability in the poniard by finding out what color it uses for the middle column, and then by building a 2xn block on the corresponding side of the board. For example when facing a red-red poniard, building red fused blocks in columns 1 and 2 and/or blue fused gems in columns 5 and 6 will cause any sprinkles received there to assist in converting those 2xn blocks into 3xn blocks.

A pirate using a poniard can address this vulnerability by building occasional 6xn horizontal swords, which immediately block the opponent's access to his or her building in the center of the board. By mixing vertical and horizontal strikes, the opponent is forced to expend breakers and to reconsider their strategy.